Chapter 125

The Troy pack house ran on routine. Everyone had been careful to keep their mouths shut about even potentially important information around Beth, which made sense since everyone knew she was a prisoner, not a mere guest. But what Andrew Troy had so carelessly forgotten was that she had already stayed here before her imprisonment.

When he had entertained her as an actual guest in the span of time she had spent waiting for Daniel to arrive here, back before Andrew requested she go to Tahoe Village to help with the fake 'espionage' mission, she had already been housed here for quite a while. Long enough to learn several important details, and details that she couldn't imagine would have changed since then.

Andrew's political wheeling and dealing were unpredictable, but his home life was anything but. That enormous cart of food she always saw wheeled in every morning at four in the dark of night came in every day without fail, and she was willing to stake her escape on the guess that that had not changed in these last couple of months. The staff back then had complained -- thinking no one was within earshot -- that the routine was so dull and backbreaking, and yet no one had thought to improve on this arduous task in years.

Perfect. Beth's last dilemma pertaining to her escape had been the impossibility of scaling the walls or the gates encircling the perimeter of the estate. But with the appearance of that cart, she would be in perfect position to not only sneak out, but be all but escorted to safety, though unwittingly on the part of the ones bringing and taking the cart.

She sprinted through the darkness, keeping to the walls, the hedges, anywhere that the shadows of the night were especially inky and dark. When the moonlight faded and hid behind a thick cover of clouds, she took a deep breath and crossed the last leg to the gates, the exposed patch of the grass that had no shelter whatsoever. The guards wouldn't be looking here, she hoped, and she had waited until the patrol was gone to reduce the chance of spying eyes catching her getaway.

Just this last bit, and she could rest. Her head was pounding with the exertion, and with a sickening, grim flash of understanding, she realized her suspicions had been right. Ever since she realized she couldn't properly mind-link in the Troy pack house, she had thought it was possible she was being drugged. And indeed, running this measly distance shouldn't have winded her at all.

Undeniable evidence. He must have ordered her food spiked, tampered so she had no choice but to consume it along with whatever it was drugged with. Whatever it contained must not be deadly since Andrew fully expected her to stay alive and safe for the sake of transporting her to the rogues, so that was one small comfort.

But the substance was both colorless and odorless and had no detectible taste, either. And yet it was this strong? Beth was struggling to silence her panting as she stumbled into the shadows once more, chest heaving. If she didn't shut up, everyone was going to hear her within a hundred kilometers. She covered her mouth again, begging her body to keep up.

Whatever she had been steadily drugged and poisoned with might not be permanent, but it had done enough damage. She still couldn't mind-link, but now with the additional burden of almost falling straight over from the dizziness when she tried, and her legs were shaking as if she had sprinted the entire way instead of creeping.

Maybe it was because she was pregnant. Some medicines couldn't be administered to expecting mothers. What if something had happened to the baby? What if the medicine was so much more potent because she was pregnant? Dread swamped her, making her clutch at the stones of the estate wall. Damn that Andrew! Damn him to hell and back for everything he had done, but especially for unknowingly hurting a baby too, if that was what he'd done.

She had to get help. She had to get out of here. As soon as she made her escape and put enough distance between fucking Andrew Troy and herself, she had to find a doctor willing to examine her for any lasting harm. It had to happen before she searched for Daniel, even. He would understand. It was their baby.

Their child.

She swallowed hard and shoved all fear out of her mind. Being terrified for her baby now wasn't going to help. What was done was done, and the faster she pulled herself together, the sooner she could make sure the baby was healthy. Go. Go! She crept along the estate wall, glued to the darkness with gleaming eyes fixed on the grounds, watching for the patrol.

But she had planned well. The patrol wouldn't come around this way for at least another two hours, and by then she would be safely ensconced in the garden with its massive leaves and plants and flowers that would hide her frame. It was cold, but she could stand it. She just had to endure until the food cart came, and then she would use that to make her escape. All she had to do was cling to the bottom and press herself up to the cart's floor, and no one would be any the wiser.

It brought back memories of the perilous missions she had gone on in her other life, sharp and stinging. But there was nothing to fear. She was strong. She was careful. And she was in control. She had worked too hard for happiness in this life to let it be ripped away from her a second time.

The moon watched her progress as it peeked out once again, and she settled under a massive patch of fanning elephant leaves with her body curled into an unobtrusive ball. The ground was cold with the stones of the footpath chilling her body through her clothes, but she had endured far worse than this before. Many times.

Hold on, she told herself. Hold on, she told her unborn baby.

She was going to get them both out of here.

***

Cold. So cold. How long had it been? How much more time? Too cold to think. Too cold to remember. At least several hours but how many, how many more?

Fingers hurting. Legs cramping. Shiver, shiver, shiver, shivering so much it hurt. Wind hurt even worse. Why so cold? Wasn't it so much warmer than this earlier?

Warm up. Rub, rub, rub hands, chest, legs. Heat, lifesaving warmth from the hands to the core of the body, collecting life and thawing it.

Beth's mind was a mantra of disjointed but frantic thoughts, desperate to survive. There was something wrong. Maybe it was the aftereffect of whatever she had been drugged with, and it made her even weaker than she realized. That had to be why she could hardly move her fingers anymore, why she shook so violently she had to hold herself tight with arms wrapped around so she didn't disturb the massive leaves.

If she made a single mistake here, they would see it. They would come for her and catch her. She couldn't let that happen.

Survive.

Fight.

Endure.

Win.

Hold on, she promised herself. It was almost time.

Hold on.

And at last, the gates opened. The clang and clamor of metal sliding, of sleepy, bored voices urging someone to hurry up and get going, that the kitchen staff were all waiting in the kitchens. The cart rolled off. Beth counted the seconds, praying her body held out just a little longer. Almost time. Almost time.

The cart came back several minutes later, empty now, and her eyes flew open. New energy flowed into her ice-cold body as she crawled out from under the leaves and ran, half-stooping, for the side of the cart while the driver and the gate guard conversed. Numb fingers hung on for dear life, and she hooked her feet into the wedges of the planks that made up the bottom of the cart. There were metal cylinders under here, ice cold but perfect for gripping, and she managed to anchor herself out of sight under the cart just before it began rolling again.

"Have a nice day, sir."

"You, too. Stay safe on the roads, icy out there."

She didn't know how long she could hold on for. Already, her arms were going numb as the cart trundled over the snow and ice that scraped along her back, but just a little more. A little more, please, she begged. She just needed to get away from the estate and then she could rest, she could rest, she could rest...

She must have made it no more than a hundred meters. But it was enough to get off the estate, and she collapsed painfully on the ground when her grip slipped and the cart left her behind in the road. It was so dark no one was out to see her, and she had made no sound as she fell even when the rough surface scraped her through her clothes. Yes! Run! Run!

But she couldn't run, so she crawled. She fought her way to her feet and dove for the edge of the road, head swirling and lips frozen. Her breath came out in weak plumes of warm fog, growing thinner and thinner...

And somehow, she came face to face with the one person she had dreamed of seeing the most all this time.

"Beth! Beth, what happened!"

She had no answer. In the darkness, she collapsed into Daniel's arms, insensate.